Spectre Through the Trees

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Spectre is quite a unique town brought to reality strongly through the imagination of Dennis Gassner. Dennis is an American production designer, known for his work in “Bugsy,” “Road to Perdition,” and “Big Fish.” While many films will collect their footage from locations anywhere but what was actually written into the story, it was jointly agreed upon that “Big Fish” would be shot exactly where the story takes place – Alabama. You see, this town was never truly inhabited by a single soul – it was built on an island, specifically for the purpose of filming. The “town” lived a life of no more than a couple short years, providing a unique space for actors and actresses to dance wildly through the night, or for Steve Buscemi to eat pie. While it may appear to be an incredibly bizarre “lost” or “hidden” town, that’s not entirely the case.

Once the first half of filming came to completion, Spectre was intentionally altered to appear abandoned, as if it had sat for decades falling into a gloomy state of decay and disrepair – this was done for the second portion of filming when Edward returns to find Spectre in shambles. The project was eventually finished and all buildings were left behind as nothing more than a fading memory. Right from its manually altered initial abandonment in 2003, it already appeared as though time stopped moving years ago. It looked as though everyone had simply left, the dances long forgotten. The years to follow would only welcome further natural destruction.

Spectre resides on a small island that stretches over Jackson Lake within the city of Millbrook, Alabama. Twelve years later, the town still remains empty, standing in silence atop this land. The passing of time has pushed these structures into further dilapidation, and any future plans for the set remain unknown at this point.